Tag Archives: deadly

From my safe, comfortable living-room I can hear ambulance sirens ring out, and I hope this time nobody has lost their life but it’s never that easy in Sardinia as every summer hundreds of people die on Sardinia’s deadly streets.

The statics are staggering, sad and preventable: every year day hundreds of people die on the streets of Sardinia from speed alone. The period between May to September is the worst time for street accidents as the roads are full of tourists who do not know how to drive on these curvy mountain roads.

Most accidents in Sardinia are speed and alcohol related. Most of these accidents take the lives of innocent people who were just out for a morning ride on their Vespa.

Here are a few pointers on how to drive and stay alive in Sardinia

Wear your seatbelt at all times

Know the rules of the road for the country you are in

Use caution

If you are lost, pull-over and ask for directions

Don’t allow yourself to become distracted by Sardinia’s beauty while driving

Keep your eyes on the road

Use a GPS or a passenger to help with maps and directions

Allow the speeders behind you to pass by slightly yielding to the right

Never drink and drive. Ever!

On August 17th, 1997 I was pulled over for speeding and the police officer gave me two choices:

Pay the hefty $500 speeding fine, or

Go to an eight-hour lecture on road safety at the local university.

I choose option number 2, as on August 19th I was headed to Australia for a year of backpacking and I needed that $500 to help support my nomadic lifestyle.

The lecture was a lecture of the best kind; complete with a slide show of the after effects of speeding and alcohol related accidents. I saw photos of cars that were demolished beyond recognition, photos of people with blood running down their face and even of people dead in their car, on the side of the road, in a tree, bush and on the other side of the highway. I was scared. Scared to death to speed again.

After that lecture as I was driving home slightly under the speed limit, I saw the aftermath of a car accident, a truly strange coincidence. It must have happened only seconds before my arrival as I saw people crawling out of the median ditch with blood splattered faces, their cars upside down, smashed and demolished. At that moment fear took hold of me and I vowed to never speed again.

It’s not possible for me to write only about the glitter and sand in Sardinia when there’s a whole other truth to be told.

Don’t let the sirens from an ambulance be the last thing you hear while on vacation in paradise.

Surprise washed over him as he found himself lying on the hard tiled floor of a pharmacy in a small fishing village on the coast of northwest Sardinia, Italy. “What am I doing here?” he thought as people curiously gathered around him. Continue reading →

Jennifer Avventura is a travel writer specializing in the Sardinia, Italy market since 2010.

This blog is to share with the world the raw, natural and bewildering island of Sardinia, Italy. With random posts on life, culture, traditions, recipes, festivals, and of course, the incredible emerald coastlines.